Nets-Bobcats Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTOPosted Feb 15 2010 3:08PM

The Charlotte Bobcats emerge from the All-Star break knowing they could soon have a new owner, as well as their first playoff berth.

The Bobcats look for their 11th win in 13 home games Tuesday night when they face the league-worst New Jersey Nets, losers of 15 in a row on the road.

Charlotte (26-25) is sixth in the Eastern Conference, in position to reach the playoffs for the first time in their six-year history after falling four games shy in 2008-09.

By the time the Bobcats find out if they will be in the postseason, they also may have a new owner. Bob Johnson is expected to sell the franchise after becoming the first black majority owner of a major professional sports team when he paid $300 million for the expansion franchise. The Bobcats have struggled to sell tickets and sponsorships, and Johnson has lost millions of dollars.

The prospective owner is unknown, and so is the involvement of Michael Jordan, a minority investor who has run the Bobcats' basketball operations since 2006 and has the right of first refusal on any sale.

Though he won't say if Jordan will be buying the team, NBA commissioner David Stern feels a deal is imminent.

"I think that might happen sooner rather than later," he said, "within the next 60 days or so."

While ownership may be clouded, the Bobcats are becoming a strong team at home, going 19-6 - four wins shy of the franchise record set last season.

Nazr Mohammed helped Charlotte enter the All-Star break with a second consecutive victory, scoring 21 points and grabbing a career-high 20 rebounds in Wednesday's 93-92 win at Minnesota. The Bobcats wasted a 21-point second-quarter lead, but Mohammed's dunk with 5.3 seconds left helped secure the win.

"It'd be a huge amount of regret if we'd lost this one," Mohammed said. "We'd have hated to look back and be one game away from making the playoffs ... one game away from the seventh or sixth seed or whatever it may be just because of a game you lost here in February."

One reason Charlotte nearly lost is Gerald Wallace had only five points on 1-of-9 shooting. Wallace, seventh in the league with 10.9 rebounds per game while averaging 18.8 points, became the first Bobcats player to appear in the All-Star game Sunday.

The forward had a career-high 20 boards and 24 points in a 79-68 home win over the Nets (4-48) on Nov. 2. He also grabbed 20 rebounds at New Jersey on Dec. 4, but had 13 points as the Bobcats fell 97-91 and the Nets ended the worst season-opening slide in league history at 18 games.

The Nets are looking to end another skid. Their 15-game road losing streak is their longest in a single season since dropping 20 in a row from Jan. 28-April 13, 1991. They're 1-27 on the road this season.

Overall, New Jersey has dropped eight in a row after falling 97-77 to Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Brook Lopez, who had nine points against the Bucks, had 31 points and 14 rebounds in the last meeting with Charlotte. The center leads New Jersey with averages of 18.8 points and 9.0 boards.

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Nets snap eight-game slide with win over Bobcats

CHARLOTTE (NBA.com exclusive) -- The struggling New Jersey Nets showed signs of life in their first game back after the All-Star break.

Courtney Lee led the Nets to a surprising 103-94 win over the Charlotte Bobcats Tuesday night. Lee scored 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting to give New Jersey just its fifth win of the season. The win also snapped an eight-game skid for the Nets, who are hoping to avoid the worst record in NBA history.

"I really think everybody got away from [basketball] and refocused," Harris said about the All-Star break. "We forgot about he first part of the season and just focused on what we needed to do in the second half. We came in ready to go and it showed for us."

New Jersey got out to an early 6-0 lead and led the whole the way.

"The starters came out strong," Harris added, "and we didn't miss a beat as a team with the starters on the bench. Our bench gave us a big lift. They played well."

Lee gave the Nets a double-digit lead early and continued to control the game in the first half.

"When we play together and make the right plays on the offensive and defensive ends, it is definitely fun out there for everybody," Lee said. "We were able to do that tonight during stretches."

Charlotte made a few runs at New Jersey, but was never able to get over the hump. The Bobcats took what appeared to be a lead at the half on a three from Stephen Jackson, but it was ruled a two-point basket on review during intermission.

New Jersey then opened the second half with a 7-2 run to gain the momentum back in its favor.

"I think we had a good team effort," Lee said. "Everybody stepped up and did what they had to to get the win."

At times the Bobcats looked like the team with the worst record in the league rather than the Nets. New Jersey averages a league-worst 89.8 points, but the Bobcats allowed it to shoot 51.2 percent and score more than 100 points for the first time since Jan. 27 in a win over the Clippers.

"I think we've lost a lot of defensive intensity," Charlotte coach Larry Brown said. "We've got too many ball stoppers and we're not making the effort plays. As a result you get beat by a team that deserved it."

Charlotte looked on paper like it would pick up an easy home win to start off the second half of the season. However, the Bobcats never led and fell to New Jersey for the second time this season.

"Being a young team, you can't just be down about it," Jackson said. "This team has never been to the playoffs, but we've done a lot of great things to this point. It is a let down, but we've got to stay positive and be ready to play the next game."

The Bobcats have struggled of late with bench production, a trend which was evident in the loss to the Nets. Charlotte's reserves were just 5-for-17 from the floor and accounted for 17 points and half of the team's 14 turnovers.